The code and new department of property maintenance inspection would work to ensure that structures are "safe, sanitary and fit for occupation and use," according to proposed article. That department also could condemn or demolish structures, issue permits and collect permit fees.

The official in charge of that department would be the code official, and he or she in turn could appoint deputies to inspect areas throughout the parish. The article creating the new code and ordinance only will be introduced at today's meeting and the council would have to hold a public hearing next month before approving it into law.

If a property owner is found in violation of that code, a first offense would carry a $500 fine, a second offense could include 40 hours of community service in addition to that fine, and a third offense could come with a $2,000 fine and 80 hours of community service.

Also, under a third offense conviction, the owner might be forced to occupy his or her blighted property for up to 60 days.

Council President Guy McInnis pushed hard at the last council meeting not to renew the newspaper's status and the council eventually agreed, 4-3, with Councilmen Nathan Gorbaty, Richie Lewis and Casey Hunnicutt joining McInnis.

McInnis argued the Voice does not meet state requirements. According to state law, a parish's official journal must have had its "principal public business office, " not necessarily its printing press, physically in the parish for five consecutive years prior to its selection. State law also states that "a newspaper shall have only one principal public business office."

McInnis suggested that the state attorney general's official provide an opinion on the matter. And he insisted that the parish district attorney's office assist the council by subpoenaing the Voice's phone and electric bills to determine "whether employees of the (Plaquemines) Gazette or the Voice have been in that building since July 1, 2007."

The Voice has deep roots in St. Bernard, but in 2008 the publication was sold to the owners of the Plaquemines Gazette.

McInnis and other councilmen questioned whether the Voice's principal office has consistently resided in the parish since then. They have argued that many, if not most, of the Voice's business functions are handled in Plaquemines.